Agency in the Age of AI

Abstract: There is significant concern about the impact of generative AI on society. Modern AI tools are capable of generating ever more realistic text, images, and videos, and functional code, from minimal prompts. Accompanying this rise in ability and usability, there is increasing alarm about the misuses to which these tools can be put, and the intentional and unintentional harms to individuals and society that may result. In this paper, we argue that \emph{agency} is the appropriate lens to study these harms and benefits, but that doing so will require advancement in the theory of agency, and advancement in how this theory is applied in (agent-based) models.